1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to methods and systems for managing changes to the infrastructure of a computer network, and more particularly, to methods that coordinate the activities of the entities that will participate in, approve of, or be affected by the infrastructure change.
2. Description of Related Art
Changing the infrastructure of a portion of a network can impact on the performance and operation of the entire network. Today, however, changes to the infrastructure of a network, such as the installation or upgrading of new hardware or software, occur largely without notice to, or input from, other network technicians working on the network, not to mention the users that employ the network on a daily basis. The present approach is generally a ramshackle collection of notifications where individuals attempt to notify parties they think should be notified without any clear pattern or organization in their activity. The present approach can often fail to communicate changes to other network participants, including technicians and users who are likely to be affected by the change, and can also result in complex changes not receiving sufficient approval, while simple changes become bogged down in an over-extensive approval process. This failure to communicate impacts negatively on the ability to efficiently change a network, and can result in the failure of a network to be operated as desired.
Changes to a network can also result in loss of service to many users at inopportune times and can result in the entire network appearing unreliable to customers. In order to provide change in an appropriate manner, it is helpful to insure that all entities that may be affected by the change have a say in the change. In the current system, however, it can be difficult to insure that the myriad of customers, internal users, or management personnel affected by the change are all notified of the change, and that even when they are notified, any potential concerns are addressed as part of the change process. Since such notification is lacking, the current systems often result problems caused by the change process which would have been easily avoided if the affected parties had been notified of the change.
Current systems also fail to promote advance preparation by the customer in expectation of potential problems; encourage customers in finding alternate means to conduct business during a change; supply notification to affected parties of lapse in or impact on services provided internally; present opportunities for parties to request reconsideration of the time for or necessity of change if the change will result in a disproportionate impact; provide proper planning to gracefully carry out change, respond to problems with a change, and review impacts of change; and/or encourage the creation and use of standard information and formats for the implementation of change.